The budget hotel operator, which freed up funds following last year's restructuring programme, plans to spend £141.5m on opening 12 new hotels in the UK and another two in Spain in the next 12 months.
New UK hotels will be situated in Bethnal Green, Hounslow, Vauxhall and Walthamstow in London, Liverpool, Cambridge, Aylesbury, Southport, Kings Lynn, Sittingbourne, Manchester and Chertsey, while its Spanish hotels will be in Barcelona and Madrid.
The new openings are expected to create 371 new jobs with another 49 job openings coming from the extension of its management apprenticeship programme.
Travelodge chief executive Grant Hearn said now the company had a 'solid financial foundation' it could continue to grow and help reach its aim of becoming 'the best value hotel chain in the UK.
“In today’s world, Britons are looking for great value when making a hotel booking. The UK, at less than 20 per cent, remains a growing market for branded budget accommodation, as it is still well behind matured markets such as the USA and France. In response to this growing opportunity, our growth strategy remains in the forefront of our new business plan," he said.
New room design
While announcing news of the investment, Hearn also revealed details of a new bedroom design (pictured), which will be installed in all new-build hotels and into its flagship and most popular city centre hotels from this spring before being rolled out elsewhere. The £57m refurbishment programme will ensure that at least 80 per cent of the estate features the new room design by the last quarter of 2014 it said.
The main focus of the new-style rooms, which were created following customer research and overseen by interior designer Frances Whitley, is a luxury king-size bed produced by Sleepeeze. The bed will also house two truckle beds underneath which are designed to replace the traditional sofa bed and will save space within the rooms.
Other additions to the new room include a bold blue and red stripe design, a contemporary en-suite bathroom suites with a power shower, stain & water resistant carpet in a dark shade of blue, a larger desk area, new reading lights and a phone charging socket built into the bed frame.
Marketing
As part of its investment, Travelodge has also created a £12m digital marketing budget and will spend another £2.5m on integrating the revenue management system IDeaS into its new website in a bid to make pricing more competitive for its customers. It will spend the final £10m on maintenance.
Hearn said: “As part of this year’s investment we have worked with our customers to create a new Travelodge room which offers more comfort, quality and style. The hero of our new room is a luxurious bed that is normally found in high end hotels. This enhanced product offering combined with our new cutting edge revenue management system that offers economy pricing, will ensure we are the smart choice for leisure and business travellers.”